Man pleads not guilty over attack on Muslim mother and son in US

Joseph Czuba stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment over the murder of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume at the Will County courthouse in Joliet, Illinois (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American woman and her young son has pleaded not guilty following his indictment by a grand jury in the US state of Illinois.

Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged over the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of Hanaan Shahin on October 14.